Into the Breach will be the next game by FTL creators Subset Games. It will be a turn-based, randomly generated strategy game where giant mechs fight aliens. There’s no release date yet, but it looks rad.

Want some tips for FTL? The terrific starship sim arrived today on the iPad in fine form, but the game isn't all that easy for newcomers. Internet all-star Darius Kazemi shared a solid list of all-purpose tips for the original PC game that new players would do well to read.

My newest science fiction novel, Lockstep, was recently serialized in Analog magazine. Reactions have been pretty favourable — except that I've managed to offend a small but vocal group of readers. They're outraged that I've written an SF story in which faster than light travel is impossible.

Brilliant news: In early 2014, the excellent indie starship-management game FTL will get a free Advanced Edition that adds all sorts of new stuff. Even better, the game will finally come to iPad, also in early 2014. Yessssssss.

You press a button, and the beat drops. Forward you fly, straight into the perilous unknown, beats pushing against your eardrums as you push back against the controller. Tempo and harmony swim together, and you lose yourself in the rhythm of play.

I could have quit. I could have made my defeat happen quicker, less painfully. But cliche or not, the captain goes down with the ship. The rules don't change just because we're in space. So I watched my crew dutifully tend to my systems, keeping the ship running as best they could. We knew we weren't going anywhere:…